The Republican base knows they're being lied to. They don't mind.

[Scuba]

They know there's no voter impersonation problem to solve via voter ID. They will admit, privately, that they don't think "those people" should be allowed to vote.

They know public employees aren't overpaid, but they've been taught to hate public employees, so slashing public employee wages and benefits feels good to them.

They know there's no threat justifying our enormous defense budget. They just like being the strongest bully.

They know the health insurance companies are ripping them off, but they tolerate it because they just can't stand the idea of someone getting something they "don't deserve".

They know unions spend a tiny pittance on politics compared to corporations, but they're happy denying that because they've been taught to hate "union thugs" and "union bosses".

They know that Wall Street has rigged the system, but that's OK as long as they get to see the "Occupy hippies" pepper-sprayed.

They know their Party doesn't give a shit about them, but they've been taught to hate the other Party as a "bunch of takers".

They know there is no "liberal media" but also know that claiming there is one helps back up their other comfortable lies.

[a geek named Bob]

1. further proof that the GOP base is the dying party of scared white people

who feel they are "temporarily embarrassed millionaires"

[lumberjack_jeff]

2. I don't hate many things. But I do hate this trait of republicans.

Ignorance is one thing. Willful ignorance is even worse. But worst of all is complicity in lies.

[uponit7771]

3. +1!

[skeewee08]

8. +2

[dawg]

4. They think they are "in" on the lie.

Little do they know, they are just useful idiots and peons. And it's sad, really. Because there are some of them who make $200,000 or so a year and think they are rich enough to be part of the club.

[Lucky Luciano]

17. Isn't that the truth. The club is for consistent long term

seven figure earners. Even the lower end of that club is getting the bad seat in the clubhouse near the kitchen and bathroom so to speak.

[Berlum]

5. It's true. The RepubliProles willingly accept the lies

They know the "global warming is a liberal plot" is total crapola of a mightily dangerous order. But they swallow the shit all the same.

They know their Republican war-mongering "leaders" are all chicken hawks who will never actually defend America and who are meanwhile screwing our sons and daughters in uniform while they blithely enrich the already rich. But they get down on their knees and kiss Chickenhawk Ass over and over.

They know their Republican Family Values "leaders" are Full-On hypocrites who are tapping their toes in public bathroom stalls, and prancing about in Diapers while boinking $1,000 a night hookers. And they still like to pretend they are some MORALLY SUPERIOR FOLLOWERS OF GAWD on a mission to intrude Big Government into America's bedrooms.

It's pathetic. One can only entertain Great Compassion in the face of such
perversity (R).

That, sadly, is the degenerate state of the Modern Republican.

[hue]

6. The Repub sheeple want to be "winners by association" but they don't want to believe they're

just being used. Yes they are able to excuse/tolerate/enable the lies d/t their deep fears and insecurities.
They think they are winners--on the winning team--soon they'll feel the sting of FAILING!

[porphyrian]

7. I guess we need to tell them what we think at the polls, then. n/t

[quinnox]

9. Not only that, but they enjoy the lies and expect them

from the republican leaders. As the repub c-span callers and repub politicians often essentially say, "Don't bother me with the facts! I know my opinion is right"

[JoeyT]

10. +1 Yep.

And it goes even beyond all of that. They're willing to intentionally harm themselves to see a group they hate hurt, and they hate absolutely everyone. You can rarely get them to admit it, but it's blatantly obvious from the "I'll live in a ramshackle hut if it means I can force you to live in a ditch." attitude the majority of them have.

How fucked up is that? What kind of crazy do you have to be to think that way?

That's one of the biggest differences between the left and the right and why there is absolutely no hope of reconciling the two. We oppose ideas and actions, they oppose the very existence of people that aren't them.

[mountain grammy]

11. Years of limbaugh, right wing hate radio and fox news

have done the job they set out to do. Daddy Koch helped found the John Birch Society.. these psychos have been at this for a long time. That's why they're so good at it. The corporate takeover of America with the GOP sheep all in line.

[pasto76]

12. Lemme tell you about my "union bosses"

He is in his late 50s. Overweight and walks with a limp. The limp is because a huge crane collapsed on him, literally. He was standing on the cabwalk when the boom exploded. Luckily, all he lost was his lower leg.

The recording secretary is my current on the job foreman. Yeah that's right, you still have to work in the field your full 40 AND help run the local. He "went in the hole' 15 years ago. means he fell off the building, at least 15 feet. He hip is all jacked up. He's in his late 50s.

Actually, of the 8 members of our Executive board, there is only one who would actually be a fight. Except that would never come to pass, because he is actually very concerned with my wellbeing, and if I have a grievance, he has a grievance. A true representative.

The notion that ANY of the guys could intimidate any of us into voting one way or another is absurd. Just wanted to share.

[Iliyah]

13. Yeah, but they absolutely hate Pres O

and the Democratic Party. What gets me is that y'think since GOPpers are suppose ly the party of GAWD why is such hatred so rampage. Plus with this new type of religion called "creation" where they claim that mankind is only 3-5 thousand years old is mind boggling.

[busterbrown]

15. When you're a racist the only thing that matters is the end result.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. Yup. But they've got nearly everything they desired and they're still pissed.

But deep in the OC (Unofficial Republican Headquarters) many Republicans are furious with their OC GOP and won't vote for any of their candidates. Women here are particularly angry. And very actively trying to come up with a solution as they will never be Democrats.

[Andy823]

18. "They have been taught to hate"

The main reason for them not caring, HATE! They have been programed for years by the likes of Rush, Beck, fox news, and all the other right wing hate mongers that they "HAVE" to hate the "other" side. Their religious leaders have told them that Jesus wants you to "hate" what is bad, and the spewers of hate on the air waves have used that to target those who are easily swayed because they can "hate" so well.

From what I have seen the over zealous religious fanatics tend to listen to the right wing hate merchants on radio and TV. The peple who would never allow a Mormon into their homes to convert them, watch Glen Beck daily and allow him to "convert" them by the use of hate and insanity. It's easy to gather a "base" as the republicans have by going after the "gullible" people who seem to need others to tell them what is right and what is wrong, who don't really want to think for themselves.

[Scuba]

19. You've nailed it. I saw it last spring when Scott Walker's supporters showed up at the polls ....

... for him. He has given them exactly nothing except .... he punished the people they've been taught to hate. That was enough.

[heaven05]

20. pathetic

sheeple are pathetic. I just want them to go away, anywhere as soon as possible. The adage came to mind, "don't go away angry, just go away"!!! It fits for me. Crawl in a hole somewhere and quit being the embarrassment that you are. Troglodytes. I hope you go the way of the dinosaur.

[DCBob]

21. They only want to win.. they dont care how.. lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, etc.

that the is the sad state of today's Republican party.

[bhikkhu]

22. That's an important point!

They know its mostly lies, but they don't mind, imagining (correctly) that the more they repeat the lies, the more people they can get to believe that they are true. And then the more votes and power he RW gets.

I suppose after awhile they develop the kind of mush-for-brains symptoms that their leadership demonstrates, who show no evidence of having mental structures left to define the words "true" or "false" with.

Then we on our side think that if we can just point out the lies and show enough evidence, they must see what we're talking about and agree. We imagine they are reasonable people who decide things based on evidence and reason...but that's a mistake. You can argue till you're blue in the face and get nowhere with most of them - trust me on that!

The one effective argument I have found focuses on their central worldview, which is the hatred and contempt they have for most of the people in the world. If you can point out their mistakes there (like in Benghazi, where Steven's wasn't dragged through the streets by a mob, he was rushed to the hospital by strangers who risked their lives to save him) and point out how basically good and trustworthy and hardworking most people really are, how most people in the world wish to be as good as we wish ourselves to be in our best imaginings, you can (over time) whittle someone's hatred and contempt to manageable size.

And then at some point the whole ideology that is built on that hate begins to make little sense, and a better world worth working for seems possible.

[stupidicus]

23. yep, been writing about it forever it seems

the problem doesn't reside in the "rightwing brain" in terms of structure, but rather the flawed and inconsistent structure/construct of their immorality/amorality that results in such high levels of disgust for their ideological opposition. They live in denial of all the facts that undermine their povs on those matters and more, but most importantly, in denial of who and what they are all that defines them to be.

Deflections, projections, scapegoating, etc, are all denial tools that alleviate their burdens of conscience, and keeps their disgust flowing outward as opposed to inward where it belongs. Lying to themselves is necessary, and the mortar that keeps the wall of denial standing.

The dynamics of it all isn't that much different if at all, from what the German people collectively underwent decades ago.

One can only wonder for example, had it been some politically neutral figure rather than the despised Al Gore, that took the helm of the global warming awareness movement, what that debate would look like now, or the public opinion polls would show on the matter. Similarly, one could wonder what the modern "con" mind would look like, if they weren't on the wrong side of almost every political issue of significance past and present that has led to forward progress and less human misery. Much like the greatest lie the devil is said to have successfully propagated -- that he doesn't exist -- the modern con has to lie to the public and to themselves, to pretend that their sad and sordid record doesn't exist. Their record of failures and the immorality component of much of it, is transmuted by their mental alchemy into successes. This is why despite all the evidence that record represents, they still lay claim to the moral high ground and a monopoly on mensa membership. It's also why they have tolerance for chick-fil-a and muslim-bashing video makers, but no tolerance for those who object to them.

All of which is why I've long been disgusted with, and loathe and despise them. The difference is of course, mine can be justified because it doesn't have bigotry as the proximate cause -- unless intolerance for that kinda intolerance, or hating haters is "identical to on a moral scale, the kinda bigotry they embrace and gladly live with.